The Herefordshire Tenants and Residents group

TENANT PARTICIPATION - AND WHAT MAKES GETTING INVOLVED WORTHWHILE FOR YOU?

One of the challenges facing all of us involved in tenant participation is that tenant participants are always volunteers. Many tenants would like to be more actively involved but are either not always able to find the time, or may not be able to get to a meeting in whatever form it may take. It is also recognised that there may be various other reasons why tenants do not get, or want to get involved.

For these reasons Herefordshire Housing's Tenant Participation Team has set up this questionnaire in an effort to gain 'feedback' from tenants, in order to try and solve the various problems that might discourage or prevent tenants from getting involved.

Herefordshire Housing's Tenant Participation Team recognises the need to discover more ways of making 'participation' as worthwhile as possible for all tenants so that everyone who wishes to can contribute. Ultimately this will improve the services provided by our landlord, and therefore the general quality of life for tenants.

What is your name?

What is your address and postcode?

What of the following might ENCOURAGE you to become, and remain involved
1. Feeling a part of your local community	Yes	No
2. Feeling that you are helping your community to be a pleasanter place for everybody to live in	Yes	No
3. Feeling that you have contributed to getting better housing services for everybody	Yes	No
4. Having the chance to socialise with local people	Yes	No
5. Being able to discuss local issues that are important to you	Yes	No
6. Believing that you will be listened to, and seeing the proof that your concerns and opinions will be taken seriously and acted upon	Yes	No
7. Having the chance to gain new skills and confidence	Yes	No
8. Knowing that there will be no pressure put on you to do more than you are willing or able to do	Yes	No
9. Being a part of some kind of scheme that rewarded you and/or your community in a tangible and concrete way	Yes	No
10. Knowing that you/your family would benefit in some financial or material way	Yes	No
11. Having the chance to meet up with housing staff	Yes	No
12. Having the chance to learn more about housing matters	Yes	No
13. Gaining experience that would help your employment options	Yes	No
What else would encourage you?
What of the following might PREVENT you from becoming and remaining involved?
14. Having other things to do that are more important to you	Yes	No
15. Just not interested in community activities	Yes	No
16. Being satisfied with your housing services	Yes	No
17. Having had bad experiences of 'getting involved' in the past	Yes	No
18. Why bother - nothing will change	Yes	No
19. Expecting that your views will not be taken seriously	Yes	No
20. Not knowing what might be expected of you	Yes	No
21. Believing you have nothing to offer	Yes	No
22. Dislike of meetings	Yes	No
23. Meetings are usually held at times you can't make it	Yes	No
24. Feeling uncomfortable in groups of people	Yes	No
25. Thinking you will be asked to do things you don't feel confident about	Yes	No
26. Having to speak out or interact	Yes	No
27. Imagining you might not be able to understand the subjects that people discuss	Yes	No
28. Language - having difficulty with written or spoken English	Yes	No
29. Difficult to participate (unless these are catered for)	Yes	No
30. Childcare needs	Yes	No
31. Not having a suitable means of transport	Yes	No
32. Thinking you will end up out of pocket	Yes	No
33. You are too tired after work	Yes	No
34. Your family takes up all your time	Yes	No
35. Thinking that if you keep to your tenancy agreement you should get the best possible service without needing to get involved any other way	Yes	No
36. Thinking that keeping to your tenany agreement is as much 'involvement' as you want	Yes	No
37. There's nothing in it for you	Yes	No
What other things might prevent you from getting involved?
If training and support were provided when needed, I would be interested in getting involved in the following ways:
1. Reading the 'Tenants' Gazette'	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
2. Filling in written questionaires	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
3. Answering telephone questionaires	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
4. Meeting with Housing staff	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
5. Joining a local Tenants/Residents' Group	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
6. Going on the Committee of my local Tenant/Resident Group	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
7. Helping set up a local Tenant/Resident Group	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
8. Receiving training that would enable you to participate more effectively (e.g. presentation skills, IT skills, Literacy skills, assertiveness, conflict resolutions....your suggestions please	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
9. Giving training to others (e.g. if your 'good with words', or 'resolving conflict', might you be willing to work with others who are less skilled?)	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
10. Participating in a scheme that rewards 'good' tenants	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
Participating in gatherings/meetings/groups such as:
11. Focus groups (one-off gatherings of between 6-12 people with the purpose of identifying opinions about something special)	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
12. Special/local interest Groups- that are set up to deal with particular social issues e.g. lack of children play equipment in the area, or to arrange a local event. These continue to meet for as long as needed	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
13. Activity days - where people can get together and volunteer to e.g. clear up rubbish, help each other with gardens, visit someone of interest	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
14. Conferences on matters of interest to tenants, and reporting back to your group about these	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
15. Attending public consultation events	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
16. Attending social gatherings where some time is spent discussing community issues	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
17. Workshops, classes (e.g. art, drama, dance, environment, recycling, i.e. the kind of information & skills that could increase your personal confidence)	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
18. Local economy groups e.g. LETS, Credit-Unions, Time Banks	Definitely	Possibly	Unlikely	No
Any other suggestions?
What are the kind of things that would ENCOURAGE/DISCOURAGE you to attend a meeting
1. The subject of the meeting was of interest to you personally	Encourage	Discourage
2. You have a chance to meet other people socially	Encourage	Discourage
3. The meeting was well organised	Encourage	Discourage
4. You believe it will be made easy for you to have your say	Encourage	Discourage
5. You know that your opinions and concerns will be taken seriously	Encourage	Discourage
6. Housing staff will be present	Encourage	Discourage
7. You have nothing better to do	Encourage	Discourage
8. You know refreshments will be provided	Encourage	Discourage
9. Something is being given away free	Encourage	Discourage
10. You will be able to meet up with 'decision makers'	Encourage	Discourage
11. It doesn't last too long (e.g 2 hours maximum)	Encourage	Discourage
12. You won't be expected to attend regularly	Encourage	Discourage
13. Meetings a weekends	Encouragev	Discourage
14. Meetings during the daytime	Encourage	Discourage
15. Meetings during the evening	Encourage	Discourage
16. If it's informal	Encourage	Discourage
17. It's formal	Encourage	Discourage
18. Small group (up to how many people?........)	Encourage	Discourage
19. Large group (between.....and......people)	Encourage	Discourage
20. Public meetings	Encourage	Discourage
21. 'Drop in sessions'	Encourage	Discourage

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